CRISIS IN THE BALKANS: SECESSIONISTS

CRISIS IN THE BALKANS: SECESSIONISTS; Kosovo Rebels Savor New Role as Serb Troops Leave

By JOHN KIFNER

Published: June 15, 1999

PRIZREN, Kosovo, June 14—
As Serbian troops withdraw under NATO tanks and guns, rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army are coming out of the mountains and forests to stake their claim to power.

In Prizren, armed guerrillas manned checkpoints around the city, tolerated, at least for the moment, by NATO peacekeepers. The rebels have set up a headquarters in Pristina, Kosovo's capital. Rebel checkpoints have sprung up in other Kosovo towns, including Suva Reka and Kacanic. Over the weekend, the rebels seized one of Serbia's largest coal mines and took control of a Serbian customs office at the border crossing with Albania, in Morini.

The swift emergence of the Kosovo Liberation Army as a new power on the ground poses a delicate problem for NATO, particularly because of the growing political support the relatively small and fractious band of guerrillas commands from Albanians here.

A major purpose of the NATO effort is to end the Serbian atrocities that drove more than a million Albanians from their homes. Albanians view NATO as allies of the rebels. But at the same time, the peacekeepers have been at pains to stress that they are a neutral force, trying to protect Serbs as well as Albanians. To fulfill that mission, NATO slowly expanded its control over a central swath of Kosovo today, sending troops by the thousands into towns and villages, but leaving the airport in Pristina to about 200 Russian soldiers. [Page A15.]

Under the terms of the peace accord, the NATO forces are charged with demilitarizing the guerrillas. Rebel commanders say they are eager to cooperate with NATO and have promised not to carry out reprisals against Serbs.

Only a few hours after the bulk of Serbian forces and tens of thousand of Serbian civilians packed in buses and private cars left Prizren today to the jeers of the city's Albanians, the rebels appeared on the streets brandishing their weapons and new-found authority.

''We are controlling the main part of the city,'' a senior rebel officer known as Commander Drini told foreign reporters late this afternoon. ''We contacted KFOR and we agreed we would not make any incident, '' he added, referring to the acronym for the NATO peacekeeping force.

Asked later about the Kosovo Liberation Army's claim to control most of the city, a spokesman for the German NATO force here, Maj. Dietmar Jeserich, said: ''If they did control Prizren that would worry us. But if it's just talk about it, it doesn't worry us.''

For now, at least, the rebels were savoring their new freedom. One of them, Sokol Haziri, a 46-year-old former French teacher, reached the edge of the city in the darkness this morning, marching in with 800 other guerrillas from the Kosovo Liberation Army's 124th Brigade.

By early evening he was manning a half-roadblock, half-giddy celebration in the city's Shkolla-e-Re district, a flower stuck in his ammunition vest, an incendiary grenade in his hand, and a red-and-black K.L.A. patch with the double-headed eagle pinned to the sleeve of his camouflage shirt. A radio was blasting ''The March of the K.L.A.'' and the crowd was singing along, hugging the soldiers in a motley group of mismatched uniforms and weapons.

All over this graceful old Ottoman city, ethnic Albanians were streaming into the streets, celebrating the departure of the Serbian forces -- and most of the Serbian civilians -- cheering, waving Albanian flags and blaring car horns.

Rebel soldiers streamed into the southeastern town of Kacanic today, embracing and slapping each other on the back. Taking control of the local police station, they hung an Albanian flag where the Yugoslav flag flew only days ago.

American soldiers reported little tension with the rebels in Kacanic. In contrast to Prizren, none of the rebel soldiers in Kacanic were armed. Hajrush Luma, the 28-year-old deputy commander of the rebel soldiers in the town, said he had received orders to abide by NATO's request that they not carry weapons. Individual rebels said they supported demilitarization.

Staff Sgt. George Person, an American paratrooper patrolling the town on foot last night, praised the rebels. ''They've been no trouble at all,'' he said. ''They seem very supportive.''

The Kosovo Liberation Army moved swiftly this weekend to seize control of other areas. On Saturday morning, when NATO forces first crossed the border from Macedonia, the rebels took over a mine at Dobre Selo. The mine is a critical link in Kosovo's electrical grid and was briefly held by the rebels last year.

On Sunday, the rebels took over what had been the Serbian customs post at the Morini border crossing to Albania, through which the bulk of the bedraggled refugees had poured at the end of March and early April. About 10 to 15 guerrillas were guarding the Morini station late Sunday, according to Andrea Angeli, spokesman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In the wrecked city of Suva Reka, the K.L.A. had set up its own checkpoints today, manned by bearded rebels in black berets, although there were no people in evidence and little traffic.

In the Shkolla-e-Re district, the guerrillas strutted about in uniforms and pieces of uniforms, some in camouflage, many in varying shades of black. One had a lilac in the muzzle of his AK-47 and an unlit cigarette tucked behind his ear under a baseball cap. People came out to take pictures and videotapes of themselves with the guerrillas.

''I am feeling great as an Albanian,'' said Hysen Huseni, who said he had been fighting for a year and a half in the Drenica region. ''This is the happiest day of my life.''

Commander Drini, sitting under a leafy tree in a walled garden, plates of strawberries and cherries on a table in front of him and flanked by an aide in a sleeveless Lakers basketball shirt, said his men controlled ''the whole part'' of the city except for the three main roads out, which he said they would leave clear for the Serbs to use to depart.

He said his troops would act as a kind of police force in the initial unsettled period until NATO forces took full control.

''It's enough in this moment before the full deployment of the international peacekeepers,'' he said. ''For the present situation, it is very important to protect against criminals, people who want to make profit from the situation. As for Serbian civilians, the K.L.A. will not touch them.''

Commander Drini, who said he speaks seven languages and wore purple socks and Adidas mountain running shoes with his camouflage uniform, readily acknowledged that his men had fired into the air as the tail of the Serbian convoy passed.

''Yes, there was shooting, it was about 100 people right in front of me,'' he said.

''I said, 'O.K. guys, you have used up half the ammunition,' '' he added. ''But to see the Albanian flag in the streets of Prizren after ten years, it's an emotional experience. What can I say?''

The commander, whose nom de guerre means ''river'' -- in tribute, he said, to his love of fishing -- said the K.L.A. would disarm if its political leadership told it to, but implied that this might have little real meaning.

''What does it mean to disarm,'' he said. ''It is an Albanian tradition to have one arm with you,'' he said, slapping his hip like a holster.

''We couldn't have a worse situation than 1998 to '99,'' he added. ''Anyway, the domination of the Serb forces is over.''

That is what mattered most to Mr. Haziri, the triumphant rebel. ''We are very happy,'' he said. ''When we came here the people were very happy. They think they are safe now from the Serbs.''

Photos: The Kosovo Liberation Army is emerging as a power as Serbian troops depart. As Albanian crowds cheered in Prizren, an officer known as Commander Drini, to left of child, said the rebels controlled most of the city. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)(pg. A1); A Kosovo Liberation Army soldier on guard yesterday in Prizren, Kosovo. ''We are controlling the main part of the city,'' a senior officer said. (Tyler Hicks for The New York Times)(pg. A14)